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Equities Roundup: Stocks Rebound From Disastrous Week

Wall Street traded up over 1 percent as investors are encouraged by statements made by European officials to take more aggressive steps to combating the current financial crisis plaguing many of its weaker economies like Greece, Italy, Portugal, and others. German officials have called for the private sector, particularly financial institutions that hold troubled assets like Greek bonds, to shoulder steeper losses in an effort to help reduce the struggling economy's debt. Another idea is to provide additional aid by making loans available from the European Central Bank on top of the almost $600 billion rescue fund. In the U.S., the economy is again at risk thanks to political squabbling as a possible government shutdown looms. The sticking point seems to be whether more spending should be allocated to emergency aid for disaster relief areas of the nation. Agencies like FEMA have been stretched thin due to recent natural disasters like Hurricane Irene and others, but will be forced to close operations if funding is allowed to reach zero. Meanwhile, oil prices regained the $80 level but gold and other precious metals continue to get punished.

Major U.S. Stock Indices

After falling below the $100,000 per share mark, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) authorized a share repurchase plan for up to a 10 percent premium on its book value. [Marketwatch]

Netflix (NFLX), which has seen shares essentially halved over the past two months, nets a content deal with DreamWorks Animation (DWA). Content spending for the video service provider is expected to increase to $2 billion next year from $800 million. [Bloomberg]

Gold prices fell off a cliff, along with most other metals, but is it going to stay down? [CNBC]

UBS (UBS) chief Oswald Gruebel is stepping down, an end of an era for the Swiss bank and its attempt to join the elite firms on Wall Street. The final nail was the $2 billion rogue trader scandal. [Reuters]

Apple (AAPL) is rumored to be slashing orders for its iPad by 25 percent, shares dip as investor worry that a dip in global demand could be in store. [Fox Business]

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